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ExtranetWorks In Use... Insurance: Distributing Information to Independent Brokers In the Field: ABC Insurance Problem How ABC Insurance can increase sales by independent insurance brokers to small businesses. Company ABC Insurance is a real company currently under non-disclosure. It is this state’s largest health care provider, servicing almost one million residents. Background ABC Insurance needed a way to increase sales to small businesses through the use of independent insurance brokers. After studying the problem, they concluded that the independent brokers would write more ABC Insurance business if there were an easier, more efficient, and cost-effective way of doing business. In the past, exchanging information with the hundreds of independent brokers throughout their state was largely a manual, paper-based procedure for sending or receiving information pertaining to new offerings, rate changes, enrollments, renewals, etc. This paper process was costly, prone to errors, and required the use of faxes, voice mail messages, and hand-held calculators to stay updated and informed. ABC Insurance was looking for an easy-to-use solution that brokers could have easy access to, and would require little or no training or support. Moreover they needed a system which could integrate with their existing architecture, yet was versatile enough to work with the wide assortment of PCs installed in the broker community. Another important requirement was to provide a highly secure method of communicating to the brokers via the Internet. Finally, ABC Insurance wanted to outsource the software distribution, client support, and operations of the broker network. To execute this vision, ABC Insurance implemented Java Application Broker software (called JAB) from ExtranetWorks Corporation. The result is a three-tier, multi-user system that enables remote and mobile brokers to connect with the system and work at their convenience to prepare quotes, write new business, process enrollments, and access rates, plans, provider directories. The Solution ExtranetWorks JAB allows pertinent information from the ABC Insurance database to be used on the broker’s laptop or remote PC, enabling the brokers to conduct business while working off-line (e.g. creating quotes, new policies, changes, etc.). Later, at the end of the day or whenever convenient, the brokers connect to ExtranetWorks server via the Internet (this could be entirely hosted at ABC Insurance, but they chose to outsource the majority of their Internet Service) or a dial-up line to upload new transactions and receive updated information. The JAB framework also provides tough security to securely transmit highly sensitive and personal data over the Internet or dial-up connection. ABC Insurance found JAB to be a scalable and high performance solution. ExtranetWorks product incorporates all of the technologies required to implement Internet application management into a single, integrated package. The Results When a broker sends transactions to ABC Insurance, ExtranetWorks software compresses and encrypts sensitive data and sends it through the Internet to an JAB server hosted by ExtranetWorks Corporation corporate offices. The transactions are then forwarded via the Internet to a second JAB server at ABC Insurance. This speeds submission of new policies to ABC Insurance and provides a competitive advantage in terms of very quick turn-around from the brokers.
When new information needs to be distributed to the brokers (e.g. new rates, coverage plans, renewals, etc.), the ABC Insurance server transmits it to the ExtranetWorks corporate server where it is queued until the next time the broker connects. JAB software allows information pertaining to a specific broker’s customers to be segmented out and sent only to that individual broker. By transferring only necessary data, connection times are decreased and the broker’s computers are kept free of unneeded information. This furnishes the brokers with the most up-to-date information on rates, plans, renewal notifications, enrollments and provider listings of physicians and medical professionals. The new solution enables insurance brokers to work more efficiently, bypassing the old time-consuming paper and fax-based communication. It also reduces communication costs, increases profitability, and provides superior customer service. ExtranetWorks JAB technology for extended transaction processing is one of the key information systems enablers that will allow ABC Insurance compete successfully in the new millenium. Conclusion By using ExtranetWorks approach, a client/server solution may now be offered to a user in the field where previously, applications caused support nightmares. Software does not have to be distributed, installed, or supported, and training is virtually unnecessary due to the use of the web browser as the interface to the system. JAB software offers the most flexibility and features for independent brokers who must access the corporate database and generate transactions across a wide-area network (WAN), with high security and reliability.
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